1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers
> 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river
estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes
(e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Archaeological excavations, such as those at the
Cosquer CaveCosquer Cave near
Marseille, show that the coast of
ProvenceProvence was inhabited since at
least the
PaleolithicPaleolithic era. Greek colonists came from
Asia MinorAsia Minor in
about the 7th century BC and established trading depots along the
coast, including one, called Olbia, at Saint-Pierre de l'Almanarre
south of Hyères, to the east of Toulon. The Ligurians settled in the
area beginning in the 4th century BC.[2]
In the 2nd century BC, the residents of Massalia (present-day
Marseille) called upon the Romans to help them pacify the region. The
Romans defeated the Ligurians and began to start their own colonies
along the coast. A Roman settlement was founded at the present
location of Toulon, with the name Telo Martius – Telo, either for
the goddess of springs or from the Latin tol, the base of the hill –
and Martius, for the god of war. Telo Martius became one of the two
principal Roman dye manufacturing centres, producing the purple colour
used in imperial robes, made from the local sea snail called murex,
and from the acorns of the oak trees.
ToulonToulon harbour became a shelter
for trading ships, and the name of the town gradually changed from
Telo to Tholon, Tolon, and Toulon.
Arrival of Christianity and the Counts of Provence[edit]
ToulonToulon was Christianized in the 5th century, and the first cathedral
built.
HonoratusHonoratus and Gratianus of
ToulonToulon (Gratien), according to the
Gallia Christiana, were the first bishops of Toulon, but Louis
Duchesne gives Augustalis as the first historical bishop. He assisted
at councils in 441 and 442 and signed in 449 and 450 the letters
addressed to
Pope Leo IPope Leo I from the province of Arles.
A Saint Cyprian, disciple and biographer of St. Cæsarius of Arles, is
also mentioned as a Bishop of Toulon. His episcopate, begun in 524,
had not come to an end in 541; he converted to Catholicism two
Visigothic chiefs, Mandrier and Flavian, who became anchorites and
martyrs on the peninsula of Mandrier.[3] In 1095, a new cathedral was
built in the city by Count Gilbert of Provence. As barbarians invaded
the region and Roman power crumbled, the town was frequently attacked
by pirates and the Saracens.
Royal Port (15th–18th centuries)[edit]
Main article: Ottoman wintering in Toulon

The Tour Royale (16th century)

Barbarossa's Ottoman fleet, of the Regency of Algiers, wintering in
the harbour of
ToulonToulon in 1543, with the Tour Royale (bottom right).

In 1486
ProvenceProvence became part of France. Soon afterwards, in 1494,
Charles VIII of France, with the intention of making
FranceFrance a sea
power on the Mediterranean, and to support his military campaign in
Italy, began constructing a military port at the harbor of Toulon. His
Italian campaign failed, and 1497, the rulers of Genoa, who controlled
commerce on that part of the Mediterranean, blockaded the new port.
In 1524, as part of his longtime battle against Emperor Charles V and
the Holy Roman Empire, King François I of
FranceFrance completed a powerful
new fort, the Tour Royale, Toulon, at the entrance of the harbour.
However, a few months later the commander of the new fort sold it to
the commander of an Army of the Holy Roman Empire, and Toulon
surrendered.
In 1543, Francis I found a surprising new ally in his battle against
the Holy Roman Empire. He invited the fleet of Ottoman Admiral
Barbarossa to
ToulonToulon as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance. The
residents were forced to leave, and the Ottoman sailors occupied the
town for the winter. See Ottoman occupation of Toulon.
In 1646, a fleet was gathered in
ToulonToulon for the major Battle of
Orbetello, also known as the Battle of Isola del Giglio, commanded by
France's first Grand Admiral, the young Grand Admiral Marquis of
Brézé, Jean Armand de Maillé-Bréze of 36 galleons, 20 galleys, and
a large complement of minor vessels. This fleet carried aboard an army
of 8,000 infantry and 800 cavalry and its baggage under Thomas of
Savoy, shortly before a general in Spanish service.
King
Louis XIVLouis XIV was determined to make
FranceFrance a major sea power. In
1660, his Minister
Jean-Baptiste ColbertJean-Baptiste Colbert ordered Sébastien Le Prestre
de
VaubanVauban to build a new arsenal and to fortify the town. In 1707,
during the War of the Spanish Succession,
ToulonToulon successfully resisted
a siege by the Imperial Army led by Duke Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia
of Savoy and Prince Eugene. However, in 1720, the city was ravaged by
the black plague, coming from Marseille. Thirteen thousand people, or
half the population, died.
In 1790, following the French Revolution,
ToulonToulon became the
administrative centre of the département of the Var. The leaders of
the city, however, were largely royalists, and they welcomed the
arrival of a British fleet. At the siege of Toulon, the British were
expelled by a French force whose artillery was led by a young captain,
Napoleon Bonaparte. To punish
ToulonToulon for its rebellion, the town lost
its status as department capital and was briefly renamed
Port-de-la-Montagne.
19th century[edit]

View in 1850

During the Napoleonic Wars, from 1803 until 1805 a British fleet led
by Admiral
Horatio NelsonHoratio Nelson blockaded Toulon.
In 1820, the statue which became known as the
Venus de MiloVenus de Milo was
discovered on the Greek island of Milo and seen by a French naval
officer, Emile Voutier. He persuaded the French Ambassador to Turkey
to buy it, and brought it to
ToulonToulon on his ship, the Estafette. From
ToulonToulon it was taken to the Louvre.[4]
In 1820
ToulonToulon became the base for the conquest of France's colonies
in North Africa. In 1820 a French fleet with an army departed from
ToulonToulon for the conquest of Algeria.
1849, during the brief Second French Republic,
Baron HaussmannBaron Haussmann was
named Prefect of the Var. During his year as prefect, he began a major
reconstruction of the city, similar to what he would later do in
Paris. He tore down large parts of the old fortifications and built
new boulevards and squares. The new
Toulon OperaToulon Opera House, the
second-largest in France, opened in 1862.
In 1867, on the orders of
Napoleon IIINapoleon III General François Achille
Bazaine arrived in
ToulonToulon without an official welcome after abandoning
the Mexican military campaign and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.
20th century[edit]
During World War II, after the Allied landings in North Africa
(Operation Torch) the German Army occupied southern
FranceFrance (Case
Anton), leading French naval officers to scuttle the French Fleet
based at
ToulonToulon on 27 November 1942. The city was bombed by the Allies
in November of the following year, with much of the port destroyed and
five hundred residents killed.
ToulonToulon was liberated by the Free French
Forces of General
Jean de Lattre de TassignyJean de Lattre de Tassigny on 28 August 1944 in the
Battle of Toulon.
In 1974
ToulonToulon became again the préfecture, or administrative centre,
of the Var. Five years later the University of
ToulonToulon opened. Toulon
was one of four French cities where the extreme-right Front National
won the local elections in 1995. The Front National was voted out of
power in 2001.
Main sights[edit]
The Old Town[edit]
The old town of Toulon, the historic centre located between the port,
the Boulevard de
StrasbourgStrasbourg and the Cours Lafayette, is a pedestrian
area with narrow streets, small squares and many fountains. Toulon
Cathedral is located here. The area is also home of the celebrated
Provençal market which takes place every morning on the Cours
Lafayette, which features local products. The old town had decayed in
the 1980s and 1990s, but recently many of the fountains and squares
have been restored, and many new shops have opened.[5]
The Fountains of Old Toulon[edit]

Fontaine du Dauphin, Place Paul Comte. The fountain, on the wall of
the Bishop's residence, appears in the drawings of
ToulonToulon made for
Louis XIVLouis XIV in 1668.

Fontaine des Trois Dauphins, Place Puget (1782)

Fontaine de l'Intendance, Place Amiral Sénès, (1821)

The Fontaine-Lavoir de Saint-Vincent, Place Saint-Vincent (1832),
replaced the original fountain built in 1615. It had a fountain for
drinking water and two basins, for washing clothes, one for washing
and one for rinsing.

The Old Town of
ToulonToulon is known for its fountains, found in many of
the small squares, each with a different character. The original
system of fountains was built in the late 17th century; most were
rebuilt in the eighteenth or early 19th century, and have recently
been restored.[6]
The Upper Town of Baron Haussmann[edit]

Place de la liberté.

The upper town, between the Boulevard de
StrasbourgStrasbourg and the railway
station, was built in the mid-19th century under Louis Napoleon. The
project was begun by Baron Haussmann, who was prefect of the Var in
1849. Improvements to the neighbourhood included the
ToulonToulon Opera, the
Place de la Liberté, the Grand Hôtel, the Gardens of Alexander I,
the Chalucet Hospital, the palais de Justice, the train station, and
the building now occupied by Galeries Lafayette, among others.
Haussmann went on to use the same style on a much grander scale in the
rebuilding of central Paris.[7]
The Harbour and Arsenal[edit]

View of Toulon, the Arsenal and Mount Faron from the Harbour.

Main article: Military port of Toulon
ToulonToulon harbour is one of the best natural anchorages on the
Mediterranean, and one of the largest harbours in Europe. A naval
arsenal and shipyard was built in 1599, and small sheltered harbour,
the Veille Darse, was built in 1604–1610 to protect ships from the
wind and sea. The shipyard was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Richelieu,
who wished to make
FranceFrance into a
MediterraneanMediterranean naval power. Further
additions were made by
Jean-Baptiste ColbertJean-Baptiste Colbert and Vauban.
Le Mourillon[edit]
Main article: Le Mourillon
Le MourillonLe Mourillon is a small seaside neighbourhood to the east of Toulon,
near the entrance of the harbour. It was once a fishing village, and
then became the home of many of the officers of the French fleet.
Mourillon has a small fishing port, next to a 16th-century fort, Fort
Saint Louis, which was reconstructed by Vauban.[8] In the 1970s the
city of
ToulonToulon built a series of sheltered sandy beaches in Mourillon,
which today are very popular with the Toulonais and with naval
families. The Museum of Asian Art is located in a house on the
waterfront near Fort St. Louis.
Mount Faron[edit]
Main article: Mont Faron
Mount Faron (584 metres (1,916 feet)) dominates the city of Toulon.
The top can be reached either by a cable car from Toulon, or by a
narrow and terrifying road which ascends from the west side and
descends on the east side. The road is one of the most challenging
stages of the annual Paris–
NiceNice and
Tour MéditerranéenTour Méditerranéen bicycle
races.
At the top of Mount Faron is a memorial dedicated to the 1944 Allied
landings in
ProvenceProvence (Operation Dragoon), and to the liberation of
Toulon.
Vauban's fortifications[edit]

The Porte d'Italie, built by Vauban. Napoleon departed from this gate
in 1796 on his Italian campaign.

Beginning in 1678,
VaubanVauban constructed an elaborate system of
fortifications around Toulon. Some parts, such as the section that
once ran along the present-day Boulevard de Strasbourg, were removed
in the mid-19th century, so the city could be enlarged, but other
parts remain.[9] One part that can be visited is the Porte d'Italie,
one of the old city gates.
Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte departed on his
triumphant Italian campaign from this gate in 1796.
Climate[edit]

The Harbour at Sunset

ToulonToulon has a
MediterraneanMediterranean climate, characterised by abundant and
strong sunshine, dry summers, and rain which is rare but sometimes
torrential; and by hot summers and mild winters. Because of its
proximity to the sea, the temperature is relatively moderate.
The average temperature in January, the coldest month, is 9.3 °C
(49 °F), the warmest of any city in metropolitan France. In
January the maximum average temperature is 12.7 °C
(55 °F). and the average minimum temperature is 5.8 °C
(42 °F).
The average temperature in July, the warmest month, is 23.9 °C
(75 °F)., with an average maximum of 29.1 °C
(84 °F). and an average minimal temperature of 18.8 °C
(66 °F).
According to data collected by Météo-France,
ToulonToulon is the city in
metropolitan
FranceFrance with the most sunshine per year: an average of
2,856 hours a year from 1999 to 2008, compared with 2,695 hours a year
for
NiceNice and 2,472 hours for Perpignan.[10] This is due to the wall of
mountains that largely protects
ToulonToulon from the weather coming from
north.
Average rainfall is 665 millimetres per year. The driest month is July
with 6.6 mm (0.26 in)., and the wettest is October, with
93.9 mm (3.70 in). It rains on less than 60 days per year
(an average of 59.7 days) and the amount of precipitation is very
unequal in the different seasons. In February, the month with the most
rain, it rains 7.1 days, but with only 88.3 millimetres (3.48 inches)
of rain, while in October there are 5.9 days of rain. July, with 1.3
days of rain, is usually the driest month, but the driest month can
fall anywhere between May and September. Autumn is characterized by
torrential but brief rains; in winter there is more precipitation,
spread out over longer periods.
Because of the proximity to the sea, freezing temperatures are rare;
an average of 2.9 days a year, and lasting frosts (when the maximum
temperature remains less or equal to zero) are non-existent. Snow is
also very rare (barely 1.5 days per year on average) and it is even
more rare for the snow to last during the day (0.3 days a year on
average).
One distinctive feature of the
ToulonToulon climate is the wind, with 115
days a year of strong winds; usually either the cold and dry Mistral
or the
TramontaneTramontane from the north, the wet Marin; or the Sirocco
sometimes bearing reddish sand from Africa; or the wet and stormy
LevantLevant from the east. (See Winds of Provence.) The windiest month is
January, with an average of 12.5 days of strong winds. The least windy
month is September, with 7 days of strong winds. In winter, the
Mistral can make the air feel extremely cold, even though the
temperature is mild.
The climate is dry and the humidity in
ToulonToulon is usually low. The
average humidity is 56 percent, with little variation throughout the
year; the driest months are July and August with 50 percent, and the
most humid months are November and December with 60 percent.

Museums[edit]
ToulonToulon has a number of museums.
The Museum of the French
NavyNavy (Musée national de la marine) is
located on Place Monsenergue, next on the west side of the old port, a
short distance from the Hotel de Ville. The museum was founded in
1814, during the reign of the Emperor Napoleon. It is located today
behind what was formerly the monumental gate to the Arsenal of Toulon,
built in 1738. The museum building, along with the clock tower next to
it, is one of the few buildings of the port and arsenal which survived
Allied bombardments during World War II. It contains displays tracing
the history of
ToulonToulon as a port of the French Navy. Highlights include
large 18th-century ship models used to teach seamanship and models of
the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.
The Museum of Old
ToulonToulon and its Region (Musée du vieux
ToulonToulon et de
sa région). The Museum was founded in 1912, and contains a collection
of maps, paintings, drawings, models and other artifacts showing the
history of the city.
The Museum of Asian Arts (Musée des arts asiatiques), in Mourillon.
Located in a house with garden which once belonged to the son and
later the grandson of author Jules Verne, the museum contains a small
but interesting collection of art objects, many donated by naval
officers from the time of the French colonization of Southeast Asia.
It includes objects and paintings from India, China, Southeast Asia,
Tibet and Japan.
The Museum of Art (Musée d'art) was created in 1888, and contains
collections of modern and contemporary art, as well as paintings of
ProvenceProvence from the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century.
It owns works by landscape artists of
ProvenceProvence from the late 19th
century (Paul Guigou, Auguste Aiguier, Vincent Courdouan, Félix
Ziem), and the Fauves of
ProvenceProvence (Charles Camoin, Auguste Chabaud,
André Alexandre Verdilhan). The contemporary collections contain
works from 1960 to today representing the New Realism Movement (Arman,
César, Christo, Klein, Raysse); Minimalist Art (Sol LeWitt, Donald
Judd); Support Surface (Cane, Viallat côtoient Arnal, Buren,
Chacallis) and an important collection of photographs by Henri
Cartier-Bresson, Dieuzaide, Edouard Boubat,
Willy RonisWilly Ronis and André
Kertész).[14]
The Memorial Museum to the Landings in
ProvenceProvence (Mémorial du
débarquement de Provence) is located on the summit of Mount Faron,
this small museum, opened in 1964 by President Charles De Gaulle,
commemorates the Allied landing in
ProvenceProvence in August 1944 with
photos, weapons and models.
The Museum of Natural History of
ToulonToulon and the Var (Musée d'histoire
naturelle de
ToulonToulon et du Var) was founded in 1888, has a large
collection of displays about dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and minerals,
mostly from the region.
The Hôtel des arts was opened in 1998, presents five exhibits a year
of works by well-known contemporary artists. Featured artists have
included Sean Scully, Jannis Kounellis, Claude Viallat, Per Kirkeby,
and Vik Muniz.[15]
Education[edit]
ToulonToulon has a conservatory (Conservatoire TPM, part of Conservatoire à
rayonnement régional de Toulon) which taught music, theater, dance
and circus and an art academy called École supérieure d'art et de
design
ToulonToulonProvenceProvence Méditerranée.
ToulonToulon is also home to a number
of institutes of the University of Toulon, known until 2013 as
University of the South, Toulon-Var.
Literature[edit]
ToulonToulon figures prominently in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables. It is the
location of the infamous prison, the bagne of Toulon, in which the
protagonist Jean Valjean spends nineteen years in hard labour. Toulon
is also the birthplace of the novel's antagonist, Javert.
One portion of the wall of the old bagne, or prison, where Jean
Valjean was supposedly held still stands to the right of the entrance
of the Old Harbour.[citation needed]
In Anthony Powell's novel
What's Become of WaringWhat's Become of Waring the central
characters spend a long summer holiday in Toulon's old town. Powell
himself stayed at the Hotel du Port et des Negociants on two occasions
in the early 1930s and writes in the second volume of his memoirs The
naval port, with its small inner harbour, row of cafés along the
rade, was quite separate from the business quarter of the town. A
paddle steamer plied several times a day between this roadstead and
the agreeably unsophisticated plage of Les Sablettes.
Joseph Conrad's last novel, 'The Rover', is also set around Toulon.
The last half of Dewey Lambdin's historical fiction novel, H.M.S.
Cockerel, (the sixth novel in his
Alan Lewrie naval adventure series)
details the
Siege of ToulonSiege of Toulon from Lewrie's perspective, as he commands
a commandeered French barge carrying sea mortars against
Lieutenant-Colonel Bonaparte's forces.
Transport[edit]

cuisine from the
MediterraneanMediterranean and from Provence
the cade toulonnaise, a local speciality composed of chickpea flour
and which is equivalent to the
SoccaSocca of Nice
the Chichi Frégi, a type of donut from Provence.
Smash Sandwiches, a common sandwich available from street vendors
throughout Toulon.

^ Insee - Résultats du recensement de la population de 2008 - Unité
urbaine de Toulon, Retrieved 22 October 2011
^ Aldo Bastié, Historie de la Provence, Éditions Ouest-France, 2001.
^ A legend which states that a certain Cleon accompanied St. Lazarus
to Gaul and was the founder of the Church of Toulon, is based on a
14th-century forgery that was ascribed to a 6th-century bishop named
Didier.
^ Cyrille Roumagnac, L'Arsenal de
ToulonToulon et la Royale. pg. 43
^ for the history of the Old Town, see Michel Vergé-Franceschi,
ToulonToulon – Port Royal (1481–1789). Tallandier: Paris, 2002.
^ André-Jean Tardy, Fontaines Toulonnaises, Les Editions de la
Nerthe, Toulon, 2001.
^ Haussmann was only prefet of the Var for one year, but his
prototypes for boulevards, apartment buildings and parks that he built
in
ParisParis were copied not only in Toulon, but in other large cities
around France.
^ Michel Vergé-Franceschi,
ToulonToulon – Port Royal (1481–1789.
Tallandier: Paris, 2002.
^ Michel Vergé-Franceschi,
ToulonToulon – Port Royal (1481–1789).
Tallandier: Paris, 2002.
^ Lameteo.org comparative climate statistics for cities of France. See
also: http://climat.meteofrance.com
^ "Moyennes 1981/2010: Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur" (in
French). Météoclimat. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
^ "STATION Toulon" (in French). Météoclimat. Retrieved 19 December
2014.
^ "Normes et records 1961-1990:
ToulonToulon - La Mitre (83) - altitude 24m"
(in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
^ See the page about the Museum on the official site of the Museums of
the Var (in French)
^ See the site of the Museums of
ToulonToulon on the
ToulonToulon City Web Site
(in French)
^ "Jumelages:
ToulonToulon et ses villes jumelées" (in French). Mairie
d'honneur de Toulon. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
^ "Partner und Freundesstädte". Stadt
MannheimMannheim (in German). Retrieved
2013-07-26.

ToulonToulon travel guide from Wikivoyage
Toulon : between military tradition and touristic modernity -
Official French website (in English)
Official website
The Tourism Office of
ToulonToulon web site